1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanning method, and, more particularly, to a method of scanning a document using a pre-scanning operation, in which a pre-scanning operation is performed in a multi-functional peripheral device having a scanning operation to sense a starting portion of a business card-sized document, and then a main-scanning operation is performed for the business card-sized document to generate image data of the business card-sized document.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multi-functional peripheral device generally operates as a facsimile machine for transmitting a copy of an original image to another machine via a communication line, as well as a printer for printing data or an original copy of a document or image input to a computer. In other words, such a multi-functional peripheral device is manufactured by integrating operations of terminal devices such as a facsimile machine, a printer, and so forth, and has a personal computer (PC)-interface operation by which the multi-functional peripheral device is connected to a PC. These days, the use of a multi-functional peripheral device integrating the operations of a printer, a scanner, and a facsimile machine has increased in offices and in homes. Operations are added to such a multi-functional peripheral device so that the multi-functional peripheral device operates as a copier performing the operations of a scanner and a facsimile machine, as well as separately operating as a scanner, a printer, and a facsimile machine.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general multi-functional peripheral device. Referring to FIG. 1, an optical system 100 includes a light source (not shown) and a photoelectric device (not shown) so that the density of an original image copy is photoelectrically converted and output as an electrical signal, and is moved by a step motor (not shown).
A scanner 101 converts the electrical signal output from the photoelectric device of the optical system 100 into digital data, performs several correction operations to improve image quality, and stores the processed image data in a memory 102.
The memory 102 stores image data that are processed by the scanner 101 using a control program of the multi-functional device, and then are transmitted to a computer (not shown) or a modem 106 or are printed via a printer 103 according to a user's request.
The printer 103 prints print data or image data stored in the memory 102 on a sheet of printing paper.
A manipulator 104 includes a key capable of setting and changing various operation modes of the multi-functional peripheral device and a display window for displaying the operational status of the multi-functional peripheral device.
An interface 105 transmits a command for operating the multi-functional peripheral device to a controller 107 according to a function of a program selected by a user so that the controller 107 transmits or receives data according to the corresponding command.
The modem 106 transmits/receives data to/from an external facsimile machine.
The controller 107 performs an operation corresponding to data transmitted via the key of the manipulator 104 and controls components of the multi-functional peripheral device so that a scanning operation and a printing operation are performed according to a signal transmitted from the interface 105.
FIG. 2A is a view illustrating a conventional scan area, and FIG. 2B is a flowchart of a conventional method of scanning documents. Referring to FIG. 2A, a document-1 203 and a document-2 204 are respectively positioned in upper and lower portions of a multi-functional peripheral device. Documents described herein refer to small-sized documents, such as small photograph-sized or business card-sized documents. FIG. 2A shows a physical scan area 200, a pre-scan area 201, and main-scan areas 202. According to the known art, the physical scan area 200 is the same as the pre-scan area 201, and the main-scan areas 202 correspond to areas in which the document-1 203 and the document-2 204 are positioned, respectively.
A process of scanning documents is described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 2A, and 2B. At operation S210, a user gives a scan command for a document to be scanned via the manipulator 104, and then the scan command is transmitted to the scanner 101 via the controller 107. At operation S220, the scanner 101 performs a pre-scanning operation on the entire area of the physical scan area 200 to generate image data having a low resolution. Because an image is converted into image data, a PC scans the image data. However, the size of the data is large, and, thus, it takes a large amount of time to scan the image data. Thus, a pre-scanning operation is widely accepted. The pre-scanning operation refers to a method of scanning a document at a low resolution of 75 dpi, generating image data of the whole portion of the document, selecting a portion of the document by a program of the PC, and scanning the portion at a high resolution.
At operation S230, the entire image having the low resolution, scanned from the entire physical scan area 200, is displayed on the user's monitor. At operation S240, the user designates an area to be precisely scanned. At operation S250, the user designates a resolution and gives a main-scan command. At operation S260, the scanner 101 carries out a main-scanning operation to display image data having a high resolution in the area designated by the user on a screen of the user's PC monitor. At operation S270, the user converts image data into print data and transmits the print data to the printer 103 to be printed or stores the image data.
However, as described above, according to the related art, even though an area the user desires to scan is limited to the main-scan area in which a corresponding document is positioned, the entire area of the physical scan area is scanned (i.e., pre-scanned). As a result, unnecessary data are generated.
Also, if a plurality of business card-sized documents are scanned at the same time, the user must perform a pre-scanning operation to generate image data having a low resolution, designate an area for each of the plurality of business card-sized documents displayed on the screen, and carry out a main-scanning operation for each of the business card-sized documents. Thus, the scanning process is complicated and time-consuming.